Chapter Text
“Natsuuuuu… Natsu, wake up!” Happy purred, gently shaking Natsu’s arm.
Natsu reluctantly opened his eyes, letting out a soft moan of exhaustion. He realized that the house was dark, only lit by moonlight, meaning it was still night.
“Happy, how are you?” Natsu mumbled, clearly still out of it.
“I’m fine Natsu, but you need to get up-”
“Mhhm, fine is good. It’s the middle of the night, let's just go back to sleep.” Natsu turned over, reaching out his arm to scoop Happy up as he moved. But Happy wasn’t in the mood for cuddles. He quickly caught Natsu’s arm, digging his claws into it to get the fire mages attention.
“Ow Happy!” Natsu whined. “Let go!”
“Natsu you have to get up.” Happy insisted. “Something’s wrong with Lucy.”
A shiver shot down Natsu’s spine, as he instantly shoved himself out of bed, ignoring the lingering drowsiness the made his muscles heavy and the room tilt. His eyes landed on Lucy, and indeed something was very, very wrong.
Lucy tossed and turned, mumbling to herself. She’d managed to kick all her blankets off, leaving them in a heap on the floor, and leaving herself exposed, only covered up by a pair of underwear, the bandages that covered her from her abdomen to her collarbone, and Natsu’s scarf still wrapped safely around her neck.
Natsu stared at the girl, frozen. He didn’t know what to do, or how to wake her without hurting her. He didn’t know where Lucy’s injuries were or how severe, and he cursed himself at how useless he felt.
Lucy’s twisting became more violent and so did Natsu's panic, as he realized if she didn’t calm down soon, she would surely tear some stitches.
“Luce! Wake up!” Natsu yelled, his voice scratchy from lack of use throughout the night.
It did nothing to help the blonde, who was too absorbed in her nightmares to hear the boys desperate call. In the heat of the moment, Natsu simply threw himself onto the bed, grabbing her arms as gently as he could, though even then his grip was tight, as he attempted to pin her down, so she wouldn't hurt herself in her flailing.
“Lucy! You’re dreaming! It’s just a nightmare, wake up!” He screamed, shaking her as much as he dared. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, as the anxiety rolled around in his stomach.
Come on, wake up. Please Lucy, please. Oh god please don’t get hurt again, wake up! Natsu thoughts raced. He gave it one last shot, sucking in a deep breath, he roared her name as loud as he could, loud enough to make his own ears ring.
“LUCY!”
Lucy’s eyes shot open. She was on the ground, why was she on the ground? Someone grabbed her hair, lifted her head, taking in the room around her, she realized she recognized-
No. Dear God, please, no. Lucy’s breath caught in her throat, fear piercing her heart because she knew this room all too well.
Her fathers office.
She was back. She looked across the room, and it was as she feared.
They were back. Natsu and her. She was in the office on the floor and Natsu was across the room, unreachable. Jude sat at his desk and Cobra stood behind her with his hand in her hair and Racer was behind Natsu and-
Racer had a knife.
“No…” Lucy whispered under her breath. Because this didn’t make sense, none of this made sense. They had escaped, her and Natsu were okay. Natsu had pulled her out of the house and they had left for good.
So why was she back?
It had to be a dream.
“You were knocked out for a while there, Princess.” Cobra taunted in her ear, his breath fanning her face because he was so close, too close. Lucy heard Natsu growl from across the room. Natsu was here, Natsu was in danger and it was her fault. She remembered the guilt all too well. But this was a dream. She just had to wake up.
“For a moment, I dared to believe you would never wake up.” Cobra’s voice was hollow, and the words tore into Lucy as she considered one other option.
Maybe this was real, and the rest had been a dream.
It hit Lucy like a hurricane, and all of a sudden everything seemed too real. They hadn’t escaped, they hadn’t even left the office, Lucy had hit the wall and hit her head and dreamed of a happy ending when really there wasn’t one to be found.
That was all it took for Lucy to believe everything in front of her was her reality.
Then, before she knew it, Jude was speaking. The order was being made and Cobra’s hands were tight on her arms, locking her in place and she was thrashing and shaking and screaming and begging
“PLEASE! DON’T HURT HIM!”
But there was nothing she could do and Racer's knife was cutting through the air and flying down down down and it hit Natsu.
Unlike before, it didn’t meet his shoulder.
This time, the knife went straight through his heart.
And Lucy felt it in her own chest.
“NATSU!” She was screeching and sobbing and everything hurt but nothing mattered. Because Natsu was right in front of her, but he was completely unreachable. He whispered her name and blood dribbled down his lips, staining his chest where his scarf should have been but it wasn’t there.
Because he had given it to her. He’d given everything to Lucy and now none of it seemed to matter because he was everything to her, and with every passing second the light in his eyes grew dimmer. She saw it happen, because his eye’s never left her’s.
He stared at her, and his lips moved but Lucy heard nothing but the sound of her own violent screams.
The rest happened too fast.
Racer ripped the knife out, and Natsu choked on his own blood, coughing and heaving.
Then there was a flash of golden light and somehow, Lucy was beside him. His head was in her lap and both of them were covered in his blood. She had ripped off her nightgown and was trying to stop the bleeding but she knew there was nothing she could do.
Once again, Natsu’s lips were moving, but Lucy couldn’t hear over the sounds of her sobs as she begged him to stay. And distantly Lucy thought she head someone call her name, but it was fuzzy, as if she was being shouted at underwater, so she ignored it.
“Natsu, I’m so sorry, this is all my fault. Please, please stay awake. Don’t close your eyes okay? Keep looking at me. Don’t go, you can’t go, you can’t leave me.”
Natsu simply smiled. It only made Lucy sob harder, as she realized she was having that smile ripped away from her for good.
“Luce…” His voice was quiet and hoarse, barely even recognizable.
“Dammit Natsu, shut up, just shut up.” Lucy pleaded.
For once in his life, Natsu listened. He shut his mouth, and smiled up at Lucy one last time, then the light faded from his eyes.
“No, no, no, no, Natsu please.” Desperately, Lucy felt for a pulse, but there wasn’t one to be found. It felt like her whole world was crumbling around her, she couldn’t see, couldn’t hear couldn’t breathe. She felt for a pulse again, and again but it made no difference.
Natsu was gone.
Natsu was dead.
“No…I…this is all my fault. Natsu, come back. COME BACK!” She grabbed his face looking into his empty eyes, her tears splattered on his cold skin.
“What am I supposed to do without you?! Natsu! Answer me!” This couldn’t be happening. It had to be a dream, it had to be.
“Tell me this is a dream, Natsu. I’m begging you.” Lucy sobbed. “I’m sleeping somewhere right? Sleeping next to you probably. So wake me up! Dammit, ONE OF US HAS TO WAKE UP!”
“NATSU!”
“LUCY!”
Her eye’s shot open again, but all she felt was the hands pressing on her wrists.
“Let me go!” She screamed, thrashing violently, ignoring the stabs of pain from various places that came with every movement. She kicked and screamed, fighting off her restrainer, until their voice met her ears.
“Lucy! It’s me! It’s Natsu, calm down!”
Lucy froze, every bone in her body turned to ice. She looked up, and her eyes met his. Natsu let out a breath of relief once he saw she had calmed down. He quickly removed his hands from her wrists and clumsily climbed off her, to sit on the edge of the bed, while he mumbled apologies. But she wasn’t listening, because he was okay, and that was all that mattered.
So while he mumbled to himself, Lucy reached up and touched him. Her hand cupped his warm cheek, warm like it should be, not the cool touch of the dead, and she let out a small sob of joy when she confirmed he was real.
Natsu stiffened slightly at the feeling of Lucy’s hand on his cheek, and he immediately cringed as tears welled up in her eyes.
“Hey Luce, glad you’re finally awake, sleepy head.” He teased quietly. He brought his own hand up to grab hers, removing it from his face and holding it tight.
“Natsu…” Lucy gasped, quickly swallowing the lump in her throat and blinking away her tears. “I was so scared!” Without hesitating, she threw herself into his arms with so much force she almost knocked them both off the bed. But Natsu quickly caught both her and his balance, and when she was in his arms he pulled her close and buried his nose in her hair and happily noted that the scent of blood was almost gone.
“Don’t worry Luce, it was just a dream.” He whispered.
“I know, I know but,” Lucy choked, “it felt so real.”
Without thinking about it, Natsu lightly kissed the top of Lucy’s head, as he continued to whisper words of reassurance.
Then suddenly, Lucy’s hand was working its way up Natsu’s chest. The dragon slayer was immediately glad she couldn’t see his face, as he was surely as red as a tomato. He wondered what she was doing, but then her hand stopped, right over his heart.
And before she even spoke, Natsu knew what the nightmare had been about.
“You died, Natsu.” Lucy whispered, and he was sure she was crying now. Natsu said nothing, only hugged her tighter and let her speak. “You died in Jude’s office and there was nothing I could do and-”
Lucy’s voice cut off as Natsu shushed her, pushing away slightly so he could look her in the eyes. His tone and look was serious, but his eye’s still seemed to smile at her.
“I promise you, Lucy Heartfilia, as long as you are on this Earth, I am not going anywhere. And as long as i’m still around, nothing is going to happen to you either, do you hear me?”
Lucy smiled warmly, and nodded, quickly pulling Natsu back for one last hug.
“Thank you.” She whispered as she pulled away.
Natsu smiled. “Anything for you, Luce.”
And he meant it.
Lucy turned to look for her blanket. She spotted it on the floor, and moved to pick it up, but Natsu was faster. He snatched it off the floor and playfully tossed it at Lucy, before making his way back to the bed to properly tuck her in.
He got the blankets wrapped neatly around her, and gave her one more kiss, this one on the forehead.
Natsu wasn’t sure why he’d done it, but he decided he liked doing it, a lot.
“Night Luce.”
Then, just as he turned to get back into his own bed, her dainty hand wrapped around his wrist, stopping him before he took a step.
He turned back and raised an eyebrow at her in question.
“A-actually Natsu…would y-you mind, just, staying with me? Just for tonight?” Lucy asked nervously, hating the pink that dusted her cheeks.
Natsu gave a sad smile, understanding exactly what she needed and why.
He’d had his fair share of nightmares, and Lucy starred in them much more than he liked to admit. Especially recently.
So without a word, Natsu crawled into bed with Lucy, cautious of her injuries as he tucked her against his chest.
A moment later, Happy flew over, fear making him keep his distance earlier. The cat purred happily as he cuddled between the two mages.
They like each other. Happy thought with a smile.
I love him. Lucy thought as she peeked up at Natsu through her eyelashes. She wondered if it should scare her, how easily she had admitted it to herself. But it didn’t, loving Natsu didn’t scare her a bit. Or if it did, she was simply too tired to care. Lucy decided she’d sort out her emotions in the morning.
Feelings were for daytime pondering. The night was for secret cuddles and stolen forehead kisses that Lucy was already secretly wishing for more of.
Lucy cuddled closer to Natsu, his arms tightening around her on instinct. She pressed her ear to his chest, and while listening to the reassuring sound of his heartbeat, Lucy fell asleep.